National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams-13th May 2019

Bt Brinjal

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has sent a legal notice to Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan asking for a freeze on all genetically modified organisms, including field trials.

More on the Topic:

• Though growing Bt brinjal is illegal in India, Mr. Bhushan’s letter comes in the aftermath of activist groups recently proffering evidence of Bt Brinjal, a GM crop, being grown in a farmer’s field in Haryana.
• India banned Bt brinjal in 2010. The debate around BT brinjal started in 2000 when Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co) came up with a GM brinjal. Seeds were exported to Bangladesh and Philippines in 2006, as the civil society resisted field trials in India.
• In 2013, the cultivation of Br brinjal was taken up by the Bangladesh government with initially successful results. A few years down the line, however, the crops lost their resistance to pests.

About Bt Brinjal:

• The genetically modified brinjal is a suite of transgenic brinjals created by inserting a crystal protein gene (Cry1Ac) from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into the genome of various brinjal cultivars.
• The insertion of the gene, along with other genetic elements such as promoters, terminators and an antibiotic resistance marker gene into the brinjal plant is accomplished using Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation.
• The Bt brinjal has been developed to give resistance against lepidopteron insects, in particular the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis)(FSB).

About Genetically Modified Crops:

• Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. More than 10% of the world’s crop lands are planted with GM crops.
• In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species like resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, herbicides etc.
• Genetic Modification is also done to increase nutritional value, bioremediation and for other purposes like production of pharmaceutical agents, biofuels etc.

Source: The Hindu

180 nations agree to curb export of plastic waste

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Around 180 governments agreed on a new UN accord to regulate the export of plastic waste, some eight million tonnes of which ends up in the oceans each year.

More on the Topic:

• The Geneva meeting amended the 1989 Basel Convention on the control of hazardous wastes to include plastic waste in a legally-binding framework.
• The IPEN umbrella group seeking to eliminate hazardous and toxic chemicals said the new amendment would empower developing countries to refuse “dumping plastic waste” by others.
• For far too long, developed countries like the U.S. and Canada have been exporting their mixed toxic plastic wastes to developing Asian countries claiming it would be recycled in the receiving country.
• Instead, much of this contaminated mixed waste cannot be recycled and is instead dumped or burned, or finds its way into the ocean.
• The a meeting also undertook to eliminate two toxic chemical groups Dicofol and Perfluorooctanoic Acid, plus related compounds.
• The latter has been used in a wide variety of industrial and domestic applications, including non-stick cookware and food processing equipment, as well as carpets, paper and paints.
• Even though the S. and a few others have not signed the accord, they cannot ship plastic waste to countries that are on board with the deal.

Source: The Hindu

Novel Compound To Kill Cancer Cells

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Researchers at Kolkata’s the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB) and the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) have designed and synthesised about 25 quinoline derivatives that show potent anticancer activity.

More on the topic:

• The compounds were tested in vitro against human Topoisomerase 1 (topo1) activity and their efficacy to kill cancer cells was carried out using breast, ovarian, cervical and colon cancer cell lines.
• Preliminary data based on cell line studies suggest that the compounds from IICB might be effective against breast and colon cancer.
• Topoisomerase 1 is a fundamental enzyme that is essential for replication. DNA is in a supercoiled state and has to be unwound before replication can take place. For the DNA to uncoil, the topo1 enzyme has to first bind to the DNA and form a complex.
• Once the complex is formed, the topo1 enzyme cleaves one strand of the DNA thus allowing the DNA to uncoil. Once uncoiling is completed, the topo1 enzyme rejoins the cleaved DNA strand for replication to take place.
• Existing drugs and the quinoline derivatives synthesised by the IICB team have the ability to trap the complex thereby not freeing the topo1 to rejoin the cleaved DNA strand.
• As the number of trapped complexes in the DNA increases, the amount of free topo1 enzyme available to repair the cleaved DNA strand reduces.
• Also, other enzymes involved in replication and transcription (where DNA is converted into RNA) come and collide with the trapped topo1 and this causes more DNA breaks. As a result, replication gets affected leading to DNA break and cancer cell death.
• The mode of action of the existing drugs and the synthesised compounds is the same. The difference lies in the time the complexes remain trapped when the drugs or the synthesised compounds are used and therefore the ability to kill cancer cells.
• The existing drugs are not metabolically stable and so become inactive very fast. So using the existing drugs, the complexes can be trapped only for a brief period But the new compound can trap the complex for as long as five hours. All the 25 quinoline derivatives we synthesised show similar efficacy towards human topo1 inhibition.

Source: The Hindu

IS claims it has set up a ‘province’ in India

Topic: Internal Security

 In News: IS also claimed that the IS inflicted casualties on soldiers at Amshipora in Shopian district. The statement corresponds to the one from the police  that a militant, called Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, was killed in an encounter in Shopian.

More on the Topic:

• The IS’s statement appears to be designed to bolster its standing after the group was driven in April from its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, where at one point it controlled thousands of miles of territory.
• The IS has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the recent bombings in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people.
• The establishment of a ‘province’ in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off.

About Islamic State:

• The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), alternatively called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a jihadist organisation controlling parts of Iraq and Syria, with claims to be a worldwide caliphate.
• It started out in 1999 as the Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. This organisation had sprung up during the insurgency in Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by US-led forces.
• By 2015, it held large swathes of area in western Iraq and eastern Syria, and had over 30000 fighters. The organisation, also called, Islamic State (IS), as a caliphate, claims to have political, religious and military authority of all Muslims in the world. Almost all the Muslim countries reject this.
• Wherever they have control, a strict interpretation of Sharia law is observed, along with massacres and brutalities for anyone who opposes them. It is accused of gross human rights violation and ethnic cleansing by the UN and Amnesty International.
• The IS’s stated objectives are to eliminate obstacles to restoring God’s rule on earth and to defend the Umma (Muslim community) against non-believers. Western forces have been involved in an ongoing war with the IS. In 2017, the US military reported that the terrorist organisation now holds less than 2% of the territory it had once captured. The IS is known for its videos of beheadings and executions.
• The organisation was founded by a Jordanian named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi under its previous name. Today, the head of the ISIS is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Many terrorist organisations in different countries have declared their allegiance to ISIS. It is also sometimes referred to as Daesh.

Source: PIB

AH-64E Apache attack helicopter

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The first AH-64E Apache attack helicopter built for India was formally handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

More on the Topic:

• The helicopter has been customised to suit IAF’s future requirements and would have significant capability in mountainous terrain.
• “The helicopter has the capability to carry out precision attacks at standoff ranges and operate in hostile airspace with threats from ground.
• The ability of the helicopters, to transmit and receive the battlefield picture, to and from the weapon systems makes it a lethal acquisition.

Source: The Hindu

Climate Emergency

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Republic of Ireland declared a climate emergency, becoming the world’s second country to do so after a similar move by the United Kingdom recently.

More on the Topic:

• The decision was made after Irish lawmakers passed a historic amendment. The amendment called on Parliament “to examine how [the Irish government] can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss”.
• On May 1, the British parliament became the world’s first to declare a climate emergency: something that’s considered a largely symbolic move.
• The declaration came after 11 days of street protests in London by environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion. The group aims to bring global greenhouse gas emissions down to zero by 2025, and to end biodiversity loss–which the British government aims to achieve by 2050.

Impacts of Climate Change:

• Rising global temperature is accompanied by the changes in weather and climate like changes in rainfall,resulting in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves.
• The planet’s oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes – oceans are warming and becoming more acidic,ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising.
• As these changes become more pronounced in the coming decades, they poses a great challenge to our society and our environment.

Source: The Hindu

Chilika lake

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The extremely severe cyclone, Fani, has created four new mouths in Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, connecting to Bay of Bengal.

More on the Topic:

• “Chilika lagoon had only two active mout the point where it meets the sea before Fani hit the Odisha coast on May 3. Four new mouths have opened due to wave energy with high tidal prism.
• Chilika Development Authority (CDA) officials have started studying the impact of saline ingression into the lake.
• If sea water ingression goes up, fish migration will increase and the biodiversity will get richer. But its long term impact is something we will have to keep a watch on.
• Chilika Lake is a mixture of saline and fresh water. Three of the four sectors are more or less marine ecosystems. The rise in salinity will lead to increase in productivity.
• Increase in salinity will not have an impact on Irrawady dolphins as they can survive in salinity.

About Chilika Lake:

• Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 km2.
• It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest coastal lagoon in the world [dubious after The New Caledonian barrier reef in New Caledonia. It has been listed in UNESCO World Heritage tentative list.

Source: The Hindu